A Chinese AI can look at pics of patients’ eyes and detect kidney disease in diabetics

Whenever a doctor detects kidney damage due to diabetes, it’s a norm to advise an eye check up, and vice versa, because uncontrolled diabetes is likely to affect multiple organs at the same time. Now, Chinese researchers have developed a artificial intelligence-based deep learning system, which they call DeepDKD, to get an earlier and improved diagnosis of kidney diseases using pictures of the patients’ retinas.

While diabetes can lead to kidney disease, it occurs in only 40% of the patients, a study published in the Lancet on April 30 said. Current…